Category Archives: General

General

Brett Ratner

It may come as a surprise to many, but I knew director and producer Brett Ratner waaaay back when, long before he became a power player in Hollywood and while he was a student at the Miami Beach Senior High School and shared classes with my youngest sister.

He was, I took it from her, infatuated with her but my sister was quick to dismiss that, or any romance between the two, stating he was infatuated with just about every woman he was in contact around those school halls.  Given his age at the time and the hormones raging throughout both women and men of similar ages, this isn’t all that surprising.

The Gods know how many times I “fell in love” with women in my classes!

The clearest memory I have of him was one day he came over to our house and we talked a bit about comic books.  If I recall correctly, he was a fan of the X-Men (he would go on to direct the third X-Men film, X-Men: The Last Stand) and, truth be told and looking over his IMDB credits, I suspect he and I shared a lot more in common than that one brief conversation tapped into.

Yesterday, Brett Ratner became embroiled in the current news cycle regarding men in the movie business and the alleged sexual abused/mistreatment of women (and, in one particular case, young men) working with them.

Later in the day yesterday, it was announced that Mr. Ratner and Warner Brothers, who he worked for up until then, have severed ties.  According to Mr. Ratner’s spokespeople, he voluntarily stepped down from his job while there were whispers that it was either he do that or be fired.

Now, I didn’t know Mr. Ratner well enough even back then, and certainly haven’t had any contact with him since that day some thirty plus years (yikes!) ago, to be able to offer any sort of conclusions regarding the accusations against him.

Like most everyone else, I take the accusations at face value and cannot believe the people making those statements had/have much of an axe to grind.  In fact, and I hate to say it, I could see where someone in such a powerful position and surrounded by very attractive women/men could be tempted to step over the line.  Of course, giving in to those base instincts and doing so even one time is one time too many.

We live in interesting times, to say the least.  Not quite a year ago we elected a President who, it should be noted, has more than ten women accusing him of the very thing that is now getting many of these Hollywood power brokers in serious trouble.

There is no strong conclusion to be offered nor a wise quip.  There are real people out there who were damaged by the power plays -sexual or otherwise- of others.  There are also those who enjoyed a lofty place in the entertainment industry who are now looking at exile from their business and, I suspect from some, legal peril.  And, in those cases, it is deserved.

There are few winners here, but if there’s anything at all to be optimistic about, perhaps it is that from here on predatory instincts will be shunted by those in power.  Further, I hope the potential targets of these predators will no longer hide in the shadows and, instead, stand up and speak out whenever they encounter any such abysmal behavior.

At least one hopes.

General

Yesterday’s news…

So Bob Mueller, the special counsel investigating the Trump administration’s ties to Russians during the election, indicted and arrested two former Trump officials, the biggest naming being one time campaign head Paul Manifort, while revealing another, “smaller” name in this affair, George Papadopoulos, had pled guilty and was cooperating with the special counsel for some time now.

Which makes one wonder if, perhaps, he might have been used by the special counsel since his arrest to record some conversations…

Speculation, for sure, but…

Whew.

Things must be pretty scary for some in the White House… and it has nothing to do with Halloween.

General, TV

Where has the time gone…?

I’ve heard it said that for every decade that passes in one’s life, time feels like its going faster and faster and faster.

For me, its passing at light speed.

While doing my usual search through the internet for interesting stories, I came upon this one at thehollywoodreporter.com.  The article was written by Lesley Goldberg and concerns…

Zoo Canceled at CBS After 3 Seasons

If you’ve never heard of the show, it is based on a James Patterson novel (he’s the producer of the show as well) that concerns a world where animals attack our protagonists.

While I had heard of the show, the extent of my actually watching it is limited to seeing, perhaps, two or three commercials of it here and there.

Having said that, I was stunned to find the show has been on for 3 years.

3 years.

Holy cow.

I won’t miss the show but I will wonder what happened to those three years.

Has it really been that long?!

General

Politics… beware…

Once again I dip my toe into the subject that raises people’s ire and finds no easy medium.

But, does it seem like after last week (that terrible last week) that we’ve crossed some kind of line with regard to President Donald Trump and his shenanigans?

With the latest clash between Trump and Senator Corker and Trump and Secretary Tillerson, the later who supposedly called his boss a “moron” (or, if you believe some sources, a “f*cking moron”) along with the terribly delayed response to Puerto Rico’s emergency following being hit by a hurricane, and the silly stunt Vice President Pence performed at the Indianapolis football game this past Sunday and one gets the feeling that even many of those invested in Trump are perhaps tiring of his silliness, the incompetence, the general chaos, and starting to sour on him.

Indeed, even the startling, sickening news of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s sexual deviance and eventual ouster from his own company has, ironically, cast the spotlight on something too many have chosen to ignore… and that is Donald Trump’s own history of sexual deviance.

Now I’m not naive.  I know there will always be those who stand behind the Donald.  To them, he can do no wrong.

But I’m curious if the Republican party… at least those who are serious about running the country, have maybe, just maybe had enough and, with Senator Corker speaking out, the proverbial dam has finally developed a leak.

Mr. Corker will remain in office until the midterm elections but now that he’s “unchained” from seeking votes, one wonders what’s next for him, and for the party that rode that tiger to this point.

Will that dam finally break?

Stay tuned.

General

Lawsuits, lawsuits…

This is… interesting.

From bleacherreport.com and in an article written by Scott Polacek, we find that…

Cubs, MLB Sued by Fan Who Was Struck By Foul Ball and Left Blind In One Eye

To be sure, this sounds like an absolutely terrible situation for the fan.  Jay Loos, the fan in question, was hit by a foul ball while attending a Cubs vs. Pirates game and has undergone three surgeries and has two more to go through and will probably also need a prosthetic eye.

Yes, the foul ball essentially destroyed his eye and broke bones in his face.

On the one hand, I feel for the man, who is seeking some $50,000 in damages.  Based on that figure, which doesn’t appear too terribly exaggerated, I suspect he’s not seeking much more than the costs of the surgeries and getting him back to a semblance of what he was… at least as much as possible.

On the other hand, if you’re taking in a baseball game and you’re in the seats immediately behind and to the left and right of the batters, there is the possibility of foul balls -and bats!- heading your way in a mighty big hurry.

The article (yeah, I know, I’m spoiling the whole damn thing) notes that baseball teams are investigating/considering extending the netting behind the batters for situations like this and, frankly, it surprises me there is all that much pondering to do.

I know there may be those who argue this will limit people’s vision but if there is a possibility of avoiding this gruesome injury in the future, what’s there to consider?

General

Sometimes it feels there’s nothing but bad news…

1 Comment

What a nasty week its been.

I mean, I don’t know where to start here.

First you have the incredible -yet not unexpected, given their general incompetence- incredibly slow response to the tragedy in Puerto Rico.

I mean, its one thing to react so freaking slowly to an entire island nation of 3.5 million -US citizens, I must note!- being almost completely wiped out by a hurricane but its quite another for our Commander in Chief to then pick a twitter war fight with the Mayor of that island when she’s clearly desperate to get any help she can.

And this was after our wonderful leader got into a twitter war fight with, of all things, the NFL because of players kneeling for the national anthem!  And misinterpreting the kneeling as a sign of disrespect to the anthem when its a peaceful protest regarding the violent abuse/killings by some police (and by the Gods I hope its only a very small percentage) against unarmed black folks?!

Seriously?!

It seems that just when I thought Mr. Trump couldn’t get any lower, he proves there are depths untold he can still sink.

And then I wake up to the news of yet another mass shooting, this one the largest ever (congratulations, you fucking psychopath… may you rot in hell) in Las Vegas.

I’ve noted before that I simply do not understand the U.S. fascination with guns.

I. Just. Don’t.  Get. It.

Yet here we go again, another mass shooting and offers of sympathy and prayers and, ultimately, you know what?  Once again absolutely nothing will be done about it.

We have to get a driver’s license to drive a car, essentially proving you can drive and are not a danger to others on the road.  Further, you have to register your car and insure it, in case you harm others or their property.

Why can’t we do any of these things with regard to guns?

The reasons are pretty clear.  The Gun Lobby/NRA is very powerful and have successfully interlinked the idea of being able to buy weapons with “freedom” and all things ‘Murican.  Further, those currently in power are intricately linked to the NRA/Gun Lobby and they have little interest in doing anything “adverse” to them.

And by “adverse” I mean anything that would hurt the Gun Lobby’s bottom line: Profits in selling guns.

It’s a shitty situation and one that doesn’t seem to have any easy solutions in the near future.

What a terrible way to begin a week… after going through a terrible week as it was.

My heart is with all those in both Puerto Rico and Las Vegas.

Too bad there’s isn’t all that much more I can offer but my sympathies.

 

General

Theme parks before and after smartphones

Over at CNN I found this fascinating article by Barry Neild which, if you’re read the headline above, is about…

Photos show theme parks before and after smartphones

It’s a quick -and somewhat depressing- read though I do wish there were more photographs provided by their subject, world-wide park goer Stefan Zwanzger, who has noted the differences in how people enjoy -or not!- parks in these days of smartphones versus back when smartphones weren’t as ubiquitous as they are now.

Ah well!

Books/Literature, General

The passing of Hugh Hefner

News broke yesterday that Hugh Hefner, 91, had passed away (here’s a CNN article by Brandon Griggs on his passing, if you want to read more).

In many ways, Mr. Hefner was one of the more influential figures of the late 20th Century.  His publication, Playboy, came at exactly the right time and rode the wave which only grew larger and larger from the 1960’s and on.

Yes, the magazine was mostly known for giving us photographs of incredibly beautiful -and sometimes very famous- women in the nude, but also were featured other things…

As the recurrent joke goes when one is discovered with a copy of the magazine: I bought it for the interview or story or whathaveyou.

And yet another icon of the era falls.

General

News of the very weird…

Over on deadspin.com I found the following… interesting, to say the least… article by Patrick Redford.  I believe the link and its title are quite self explanatory:

A Jogger Dubbed The “Mad Pooper Is Terrorizing Colorado Springs

Truly, the article is a mix of genius and madness… In brief, there is some lady who clearly has a grudge (or something) against people in a certain area of Colorado Springs and she’s been… uh… relieving herself in front of certain properties.

The video provided in the article is hilarious, as are many of the quotes.

Then there’s this article, presented on Huffingtonpost.com and written by Lee Moran:

Firefighters Spend 3 Hours Removing Weight From Gym Goer’s “Sensitive Spot”

The article came (no pun intended -get your heads out of the gutter! 😉 ) with the following image which I suppose is the offending weight…

What… In… The… Hell?!

I mean, really?!

That’s what you choose to use to get some …uh… stimulation?!

Sheesh!

Today’s society is truly filled with some strange characters.

General

Still in the process of getting back to normal…

After Irma passed and like many, we lost electrical power.

We also lost electricity after Wilma back in October of 2005.  However, that storm was pushed into and away from us by one of the season’s first strong cold fronts so losing electricity proved, at least for four days or so, not such a big deal given the air outside was crisp and cool and we could open windows and not sweat to death.

Unfortunately for us, we would go on to have two full weeks without electricity and, once the cold air from that front was gone and we returned to temperatures in the high 80’s, trying to get by in our house was horrible.

With Irma, folks around these parts didn’t have the benefit of that cold front.  The temperatures around these parts were in the 90’s and with the humidity it feels like its in the 100’s before Irma’s arrival and after she left us we’re… still there.

Needless to say, these very hot temperatures are a potentially very dangerous thing and the recent, shocking news regarding the nursing home deaths points out just how dangerous the lack of electricity -and AC- can be.

Fortunately for us, we got our electricity back on Tuesday, only a couple of days after Irma’s departure and all the more incredible considering the damage around us both near and far.  We found this sight, for example, a little ways from our home…

Yup, that’s a power line wrapped around a palm tree.  Both were obviously knocked down and onto the road.  This damage, btw, is fairly minor compared to some of the truly large trees I’ve seen knocked into homes.

Last night proved to be the first night since early last week that we were finally, finally able to have a truly restful night’s sleep given that our daughters were back where they belonged (they are both in college within Florida and, out of an abundance of caution, made what turned out to be very long trips through very crowded roads to friends’ houses to be away from the storm).

Anyway, they were back and all seemed well and we were back to having electricity and some semblance of our old life and its moments like this, when your life is potentially disrupted beyond repair, that you realize just how good life is.

I don’t mean to minimize the hardships of others.  Indeed, I sympathize greatly with those who suffered much more thanks to Irma (and Harvey, for that matter), than I ultimately did.

I was lucky.  I know that.

And like I wrote before, let’s hope this proves to be the “storm of the century” and we see nothing more of this type in our lifetimes.